Louisville's 63-54 victory over Cincinnati Wednesday night was all the more impressive because the Cardinals won without Reece Gaines.

        The sophomore guard left just 2:41 into the game with lower back spasms and did not return. He came in as the Cardinals' No.2 scorer (15.8 ppg) and third in Conference USA in 3-point percentage (.453).

        Erik Brown, a transfer from Morehead State, came off the bench and scored 16 points for the Cardinals.

        STREAKING: UC has lost two straight games for the first time since a three-game slide in February 1999. The Bearcats saw an eight-game winning streak against Louisville come to an end, as well as their 34-game conference home winning streak. Louisville, the first opponent to win three times in Shoemaker Center, also was the last league team to beat UC in Shoemaker (Feb.22, 1996).

        POW-WOW: Denny Crum, in his 30th year as Louisville's coach, is expected to meet today with athletic director Tom Jurich to discuss his job status. When interviewed last week by CBS Sportsline.com, Jurich said he could not guarantee Crum would return as coach next season.

        Crum said Wednesday night that he called the meeting.

        “I'm just going to talk to him and see where he stands and see where I stand, and I'd like to kind of plan my future,” Crum said. “I just want to sit down and talk to him. He's my boss. That's legal, isn't it?”

        Asked whether it was better to go in coming off a big victory, Crum said: “It doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything. We're still 7-12.”

        LOOKING AHEAD: Wednesday night was the first of three home games in six days for the Bearcats. They play host to ninth-ranked Wake Forest (14-4) on Saturday and Tulane (7-11, 0-5 C-USA) on Monday night. Wake Forest lost 85-62 Wednesday to No.2 Duke.

Louisville 63, UC 54 No Gaines, no problem for Louisville

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